Procter & Gamble has announced the appointment of Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren to its board of directors, effective immediately. P&G director Johnathan Rodgers has decided not to seek re-election at P&G's annual shareholder meeting in October, choosing to retire from the board at that time. Shares were up 0.51%.

Bank of America shares were down 4.6% after the stock was cut to "neutral" from "outperform" at Credit Suisse, based on valuation.

The S&P 500 rose 4 points, or 0.3%, to 1,461. The Nasdaq added 14 points, or 0.5%, to 3,106.

All sectors in the broad market were advancing, led higher by consumer cyclicals, transportation, capital goods and conglomerates.

Volumes totaled 3.62 billion shares on the Big Board and 1.73 billion shares on the Nasdaq. Advancers were outpacing decliners by a ratio of 2.1-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange and 1.9-to-1 on the Nasdaq.

Mark Newton, chief technical analyst at Greywolf, was anticipating more upside for stocks into the end of the week.

"Today's rally marks one of the sharpest two-day rallies in the SPX since 2008, but despite being short-term overbought, the success in closing above December highs in the major indices should likely help prices rally through end of week before any short-term top is in place," Newton said in a note.

Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, issued a note saying fourth-quarter S&P 500 company growth estimates have steadily come down from September, and have been even lower excluding financials.

Greenhaus said a major reason for the drop in estimates is expectations that the tech sector may take a hit from Apple ( AAPL). Expectations are that the tech giant may suffer a rare year-over-year drop in quarterly earnings.

During this earnings season, investors will also be watching for corporate commentary on whether fourth-quarter profits suffered any collateral damage from the "fiscal cliff" battle.

The company said it expected to be in a good position for 2013 on global demand growth in aluminum amid a pickup in the Chinese economic recovery.

"Such anecdotal signs that the belly of the Chinese dragon is starting to rumble again will not go unnoticed by investors around the world," said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economist strategist at Miller Tabak.

During an interview with CNBC on the company's earnings, Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld warned that the U.S. must resolve debt ceiling issues or see the destruction of market confidence.

No major U.S. economic releases were published Wednesday.

Gold for February delivery slid Wednesday by $6.70 at $1,655.50 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, while February crude oil contracts fell 5 cents to finish at $93.56 a barrel.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was up 1/32 to dilute the yield to 1.867%. The dollar was up 0.24%, according to the U.S. dollar index.

Wine company Constellation Brands raised its full-year profit outlook after posting third-quarter earnings of 63 cents a share on revenue of $767 million, blowing past the average analyst estimate of 55 cents a share on revenue of $751.8 million. Shares lost 0.67% as investors took profits after the stock had gained more than 2%.